Sunday, January 3, 2010

I'd like to keep a record of how my spinning progresses, so I'm going to put in a little more info about the knitting I've done with my handspun. I documented the first project, the One Row Handspun Scarf, and now I'll show photos of fiber to finished product for the other two items I've made.

The second finished object I accomplished was the socks. These were made from the Interlacements wool roving I got in the gift box of practice fiber from Goatlady. I spun half of it into thick/thin yarn (that's so soft!) but haven't used it for anything but a swatch yet. I think it might turn into some fingerless mitts.

Anyway, I spun the balance of it to continue practicing, and managed to achieve a sportweight two-ply yarn. As I mentioned yesterday, the colors were not maintained in any kind of order; I just grabbed handfuls of fiber and thinned them down so I could spin easier. The resulting yarn was quite mixed up, but very colorful!

I knit a basic, toe-up sock so I could more easily use up all the yarn, but I had plenty. There's more than enough left to make a square or two for my sock yarn blankie! Here are the socks again:

The project I just finished was spun some time ago. I got a braid of Targhee roving soon after I took my first spindle class in October of 2008. This sat until after I got my Ashford wheel and worked up my courage to try to spin nice roving. (By the way, I recommend using the "nice" roving. It's more fun and you'll pretty much always get something you can use.) So after my successful initial effort with the Interlacements wool, I got going on the Targhee. It still came out quite thick and thin and pretty bulky, but it wasn't bad. Here's how it looked during the spinning:

Here's the finished yarn:

And here's the finished product (again). You'll notice the difference in striping between the two as again, it was just grab a hunk, divide, and spin.

My task in spinning this year will be to try to work with the colors so I can get them where I want them; i.e., progression, striping, etc. I think I'll take a Spinning for Socks class at my local LYS which promises to help with that.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

I can't believe that the last time this blog had any significant knitting content, the calendar read August! Let's see, the reason I started a blog in the first place was to document my knitting. We seem to have strayed pretty far from documenting anything, let alone knitting, in the last year. I guess we'll just have to remedy that, starting right now. I will blame Ravelry for my lack of blogging, since I do spend a bit of time there each day, and my projects are quite a bit more up to date there than they are here. I'm just going to list the items briefly here; you can check out the information on my Ravelry projects page (if you're on Ravelry) if you want to know more.

Sweaters first: I made DH a vest per his request and had yarn left, so I decided that a matching sweater for Buddy was in order. Aren't they cute?

The next sweater I made was for niece Chelsye's expected baby girl. We won't know how well it fits a real baby until March, but Teddy seemed to like it.

Socks next:

I finally finished the Little Square Socks out of Casbah, but I don't really like them. The yarn is great, but I'll have to try another pattern with the next skein.

Then I made DH some more bed socks, per his request. These are Cascade 220 superwash so are extra warm. They were very quick to make and were started and finished on our cruise.

I made some plain ribbed socks for Mom out of some sport weight Zen String yarn and they came out very nicely.

I made the Sock Knitter's Anonymous September Mystery Socks and they were fun. They were designed by Nancy Bush, and I used a yummy merino/silk blend yarn. They were supposed to be yellow!

These are the socks I love the most. They're just a plain stockinette toe-up pattern, but are made from my own handspun yarn. I spun the rest of the braid of colorful wool that I received as practice fiber, and this yarn came out to be about sportweight, so I decided to make socks. I just grabbed random handfuls of fiber, so the colors aren't in the same order, but I really love them. They're so cozy and fun.

On to scarves: This is a Scrunchable scarf made from Knit Picks Merino style that I made for my friend, Anne. I need one of these, I think. They feel great.

Another Scrunchable Scarf made out of Knit Picks Merino Style that I sent to the Red Scarf Project. I managed to send three scarves this year, two new and one that I had made a couple of years ago but never used.

The second new Red Scarf. This was made from Knit Picks Swish DK. Same pattern.

This is the Noro Striped Scarf that I worked on for most of the year, off and on. I ended up loving it so much that I kept it for myself.

This is the only shawl I've finished lately. I got this done right before our cruise, so I could take it with us. It's Sivia Harding's Diamond Fantasy shawl made out of Malabrigo sock. It's artistically posed on our balcony on the ship.

A couple more gifts: A Classic Watch Cap with cable section for my brother-in-law. I like this hat a lot. It's made with Knit Picks Wool of the Andes.

These are hand warmers I made for my sister. I used some handspun (I think this was the second fiber I spun on my wheel.) It's Targhee and quite thick and thin, but they're warm and toasty.

I think that gets me caught up in time to start a new year of knitting. So many things in progress, so many in my brain waiting to be cast on.....never a dull moment!

I wish health and happiness in the new year to you all and hope that you never run out of inspiration for whatever it is you like to do.